Secret Samadhi
Lakini's Juice has a guitar sound that does a good part of the storytelling before the lyric needs to make sense. The riff is heavy, slightly slippery and impossible to mistake for a gentle welcome. Secret Samadhi gives Live a darker setting, and its best songs make that change count.
Rattlesnake introduces the album through a firm groove and Ed Kowalczyk's familiar intensity. The arrangement has enough space for the heavier passages to arrive with weight. The record uses more layered guitar and atmospheric detail than a straightforward set of rock songs requires, giving the singer's spiritual concerns a less reassuring backdrop.
That approach is effective on Lakini's Juice because the riff remains a definite point of focus. Freaks takes another route, with a more controlled verse setting giving way to a harder chorus. The contrast adds an unsettling quality without needing the instruments to stay aggressive throughout. These tracks suggest a band willing to make its accessible sound more uncomfortable.
Turn My Head is the essential counterweight. Its gentler melody gives the album an emotional clarity that the denser songs sometimes lack. Ghost also handles the movement between quieter passages and forceful playing well, letting the arrangement build a sense of scale. The heavy attack of Heropsychodreamer provides a useful burst of directness when the album threatens to remain in one mood too long.
The unevenness comes from the songs between those peaks. Several follow a similar path from a spare verse to an emphatic chorus without finding an equally distinctive tune. Kowalczyk's delivery can make an unclear idea sound significant, but it cannot always make it memorable. The atmosphere remains convincing after some of the individual songs have begun to blend together.
Secret Samadhi deserves credit for making a less obvious record after a major success. More importantly, its strongest tracks stand up without that context. The album's strange guitar colours and more exposed softer moments are worth exploring, even if the full sequence does not consistently match the force of its best ideas.
